E-ZPass perks called 'illegal'

Board members of the state's Thruway Authority on Wednesday agreed to stop using the free E-ZPass vehicle tags that exempt them from paying tolls on New York's highways.

The decision came after a push by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to end such travel perks -- a decades-long tradition at many public agencies.

Cuomo also demanded that members of the board of New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority do the same.

The Daily News revealed on Tuesday that about 60 past and present MTA board members -- many of them multimillionaires -- had gotten the free tags for life. Among them is former MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow, who owns dozens of cars and reportedly has eight tags.

Board members serve the public "without salary or other compensation," according to state legislation that created both the MTA and the Thruway Authority.

Therefore, Cuomo's office warned, compensation in the form of an E-ZPass is "illegal."

Cuomo aide Benjamin Lawsky said in a letter to the MTA that the agency "should immediately terminate and rescind all free E-ZPass tags it has provided to its current and past board members," adding, "If the MTA wants to say thank you, maybe they should give flowers and some chocolates to board members, not an E-ZPass worth many thousands of dollars."